Research Article, ISSN 2313-4747 (Print); ISSN 2313-4755 (Online); Prefix 10.18034 Copyright © CC-BY-NC 2014, Asian Business Consortium | AJTP Page 93 The Intersection of Self-Actualization, Entrepreneurship and Transformational Leadership: A Review of Maslow’s Perspective of Eupsychian Management Nura S. Akilu, Abubakar Sambo Junaidu* Department of Business Administration, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, NIGERIA *E-mail for correspondence: gidadawa56@yahoo.co.uk Cell Phone: +2348117896795 Received: May 27, 2015; Accepted: Jul 26, 2015; Published: Aug 06, 2015 Source of Support: Nil No Conflict of Interest: Declared ABSTRACT An entrepreneur is someone often associated with venture creation, through what could be termed as bold undertaking; a process of treading an unfamiliar terrain characterized by overwhelming challenges known as entrepreneurship. Similarly the self actualizing individual is perceptive of possibilities and engaged in pursuits of interest that could otherwise be deemed unattainable by the multitude. These two, share commonalities akin to commitment to a purpose, meaningful enough to be sustainable and yet do not operate in isolation. They both work to inspire, motivate and organize people of shared vision in the direction of their dreams through transformational leadership. Interestingly too, there seem to be a point of convergence that characterize the seemingly varied motives, leadership style, and what could be seen as distinct set of attributions in the definitions of an entrepreneur and the self-actualizing individual. This possibility stems from the assumption that the quest for entrepreneurial success is more or less associated with the need for self actualization and forms the phenomena of interest this paper aims to explore with a view to establishing a meaningful convergence. Drawing from qualitative analysis of related literature and Abraham Maslow’s works in particular, effort has been made towards this end. The findings revealed a synchronized form of the phenomena with implications that resonate around Maslow’s Idea of Eupsychian Management with a recommendation for practical adoption of the concept. Keywords: Self-actualization, Entrepreneurship, Transformational Leadership, Entrepreneurial Organization, Vision, Purpose INTRODUCTION Eupsychian management is Abraham Maslow’s construct of what could otherwise be called enlightened management to denote management of the psychologically healthy. In his “Eupsychian Management” a journal published in 1965, the well known humanistic psychologist who also, is the proponent of the widely acknowledged hierarchy of needs theory of motivation particularly in the management literature put forward this perspective, which is considered to be more or less utopian in nature. It is an extension of his concept of self-actualization of the needs theory, which he articulated in his book titled:“motivation and personality” published in 1954. Self actualization is a higher human need amongst the list of needs proposed by Maslow, which occupies the apex position in his gradation of needs symbolized by a hierarchical pyramid of prepotency. In his “Eupsychian management a journal”, he extended this concept of self actualization to embody thirty-six set of assumptions that are descriptive of conditions necessary for this perspective of management to be feasible in the operational sense. Central to the ideas embodied in these set of assumptions is the spirit of team work in an organization of psychologically healthy people motivated and lead by a strong desire to self actualize and bonded by a deep sense of purpose and shared vision. The in-depth analysis of Abraham Maslow’s works (Motivation and personality and Eupsychian Management) with particular emphasis on the self actualization concept lead to fascinating insights, which in combination with recent research findings in the field of entrepreneurship and transformational leadership theory, inspired the development of the content of this paper. It is in this effort, aimed at making explicit the contextual associations of observable pattern of interrelationship that exist between these three constructs of self actualization, entrepreneurship and transformational leadership that a rather cohesive and complimentary nexus of interdependence becomes